Mixed feeding - how do you know when breastfeeding is over?

[withorwithoutyou]

I mixed fed DD1 due to massive weight loss at the beginning but I was very strict about when she had a bottle and basically she used to breastfeed all day and have a big bottle of formula before bed.

She would just feed all the time and never seemed satisfied and this carried on til we stoppped b/fing at 6 months.

With DD2, I started to have the same issues. Having held out and held out with DD1 for things to get better/easier and that never happening I resigned myself pretty early on to the fact that I simply wouldn't be able to spend every waking moment glued to a chair feeeding for 6 months with a toddler to look after as well.

So started topping DD2 up with formula after most feeds from about 4 weeks. Was expecting my milk to be gone but she's 11 weeks old now and will still feed for a while in the morning and a few times a day for 5/10 mins or so.

I doubt she's getting much although we do get a mixture of formula and b/f looking nappies.

I guess my long winded question is - when will I know when my milk has run out completely? Will DD2 just get friustrated at not getting any milk? I intend to carry on going for as long as I can but tbh I expected b/fing to be over now and I guess now I'm getting my hopes up we may be able to keep going a bit longer.

Sorry, I should mention she sleeps through so no night feeds from about 5 weeks, if that makes a difference?

What happens if you don't offer a top up? ie has the BF taken the edge off her hunger or is she still demanding? Also how many oz of formula a day?

She's happy for about half an hour/an hour before she needs a top up normally, unless she's ravenous.

I make 5 oz bottles for her but she very rarely has them all - more like three of four.

I think she has maybe 16/17 ounces a day - she weighed just over 13 pounds last week.

Sorry, to clarify, she very rarely drinks 5 oz, more like 3 or 4.

Do your breasts feel heavy in the morning?

On average babies drink 2.5oz per lb of weight - so 11lb baby would be drinking roughly 27oz a day. So sounds like she is getting quite a lot from the botte?

I think it depends on what you want to do - ie would you prefer to feed her (this is most likely to involve at least one night feeding) or would you prefer for her to have formula?

If you want to keep on feeding her, cut the top ups back to 2oz-3oz per top up - even if she needs to feed more often. If you want to stimulate your milk you need to feed in the night.

By 11 weeks I found the BFs did get a bit shorter, and now at 20 weeks he will not ever fed for more than 15 mins.

I'm happy for her to get a lot from the bottle, I don't want to exclusively breastfeed her.

I'm just wondering if I'll be able to continue feeding her in this way or if we hit a growth spurt or something if that would end it altogether. I would be happy to breastfeed her just morning and night but don't know if this is going to be sustainable.

Presumably this would depend baby to baby, and mother to mother?

I'm sure it does depend, yes.

I just always read on here people giving advice saying that mixed feeding in this way is the beginning of the end of breastfeeding and that eventually your milk will dry up.

I was expecting that to have happened already, and as it hasn't I'm wondering if it's going to and when it's likely to.

Obviously I know it's not an exact science but I'm trying to manage my own expectations about when we're likely to stop breastfeeding.

Not an expert by any means...but i thought your body adapted to the feeds the baby is taking? Many working mums manage to feed in the evening and morning, and not during the day. Also as baby gets older and naturally drops feeds or starts solids then you feed less often, and it doesn't mean your milk stops.

Out of interest, you say half an hour after bfeeding baby is unsettled so you give a bottle. Does she refuse the breast then?

I am mixed feeding my 19 week old. He gets two bottles a day - one at lunchtime and one before bed. The rest of the feeds are breast (including at least two night feeds, every night, the little milk monster!). Sometimes, if I have to be away for a few hours he has three bottles in a 24 hour period.

I have been told (and this seems to be the case for me, anyway) that as long as you put your baby on the breast regularly (ie. more than once a day), your breasts will continue to produce milk. The amount of milk produced is in direct response to how much the baby had at the last feed from that breast - they constantly adjust their amounts, depending on the demand. You will only dry up if you stop feeding, and this will take at least a day. That said, the less you feed, the less milk will be produced, but it will still be produced, IYSWIM.

And for me, as MumNW says, if I feel I want to increase my supply, feeding at night really helps to do that.

HTH. xx

Thanks all

Littmiss - she will have a few sucks then get agitated and cry at the breast after the half hour gap.

Unblissfully - that's pretty much how I mixed fed my DD1 but this is unchartered territory for me as I kind of thought I was just going to switch to formula then discovered how much I really wanted to carry on b/feeding.

Not sure about night feeds - I'm not going to start waking her at night but I could alway set the alarm to express..

I'm wondering now if we might be able to get to 6 months, or even a year feeding as we are. I really wanted to stop at 6 months with DD1 because breastfeeding her was the hardest thing I;ve ever done and I literally couldn't hack it any more. BUt I find being ok with using bottles after every feed has taken the pressure off enormously this time.

If you want to keep on feeding either restrict the size of the top ups to 2 or 3oz, or maybe move to some feeds which are totally BFs and others which are totally formula?

Thanks mumnwlondon, I don't think I'm explaining myself very well.

I want to carry on just as we are, without restricting top ups or moving to only b/f and only ff (although first mornning one is onyl b/f) and I want to know if it's likely to be sustainable to carry on just as I am.

withorwithoutyou you are in a similar situation to me. DD2 is 7 weeks old and I mix feed due to her losing weight the 1st few weeks and DD1 not taking to breast feeding so I wanted to be sure she was at least getting some regular feeds at the start. (I've done this since the end of week 1 btw). Plus DD1 is nearly 2 so I didn't want to stress over DD2's feeding!

DD2 has 3 formula feeds: 1 mid morning, 1 mid afternoon, and 1 late evening when she wakes which is any time between 10.30 and 11.30. I make up 5oz bottles which sometimes she will have nearly all of, and sometimes she will only take 3oz.

You're lucky that your little one sleeps through. I'm still up at 3am ish to do a breast feed which is the one I absolutely hate but it's easier than dragging my backside down 2 flights of stairs to get a bottle.

The breast feeds are breakfast (7am ish), lunchtime, bedtime and middle of the night. So far this seems to be working and when I got her weighed yesterday she'd gone from 9lb 13 at week 4 to 11lb 11 at 7 weeks so i figure it must be working.

Several of my friends are doctors and have said they've known lots of people successfully mix feed beyond 6 months.

You're asking the same question as me. My answer is to continue as long as it seems to work and take it day by day. If I make it to 2 months that's an achievement and so on...

Cbmum, thanks, it's great to hear from someone in the same situation.

I guess I'm just surprised to still be feeding at all, didn't think we'd make it to 6 weeks and now she's nearly 12 weeks!

just marking my place on this thread if any more helpful hints come along.

I'm mix feeding dd3 who is nearly 8wks.

she generally has a feed every 4 hours and depending on whether dh is around to help or not she has either 1 or 2 bottles of formula a day- always the one before bed and one of the three in the day.

I only ff in the night as bf takes ages and she won't sleep properly after..

I tried expressing but only got 9oz in a whole week of expressing 2-3 times a day!

would be so pleased to reach 6m as failed miserably at bfing the other two.

withotwithoutyou I know what you mean. With DD1 she fell off the growth charts and never seemed to get the hang of it all. Give her a bottle and it was a different story.

I'm no expert and as surprised as you by the sounds of it to be still mixed feeding at week 7. That said tonight has not gone well. DD2 is current snoozing on me after screaming for over an hour trying to feed from me - a mixture of wind and perhaps frustration that she wasn't getting the milk as fast as she wanted - end result 2oz of formula = calmer baby who now [speak quietly] appears to have fallen asleep.

As I said early, take it a day at a time and to be honest if it ends up she is entirely formula fed it won't bother me half as much as it did first time round. I've 'had a go' and that's all you can do!

Cbmum, nice to hear from someone in the same boat. My DDs must be almost exactly the same age as your DDs!

Sorry, meant to say to girlsyearapart nice to hear of another one in the same boat, and to cbmum that our girls must be the same age.

thanks. my other girls have just turned 2 and 3 how old are yours?

girlsyearapart - if you wish to partially breastfeed til 6 months you may need to increase breastfeeds; feeding 4 hourly with no night feeds is quite a small amount of BM.

withorwithoutyou - from my observations, the reason why a lot of mixed feeders are doomed from the start is because of how quickly they go from 1 bottle to 3, 4 or 5. I should think as long as you're offering the breast first, you will always maintain a certain amount of milk. I would personally add a late night pumping session to make the most of the increased hormones (say around 11pm).

Also, during growth spurts (6w-8w, 12w, 16w, 24w-26w are the most common times) I would offer the breast as often as you can to ensure breastmilk increases with the demands of the baby.

Thanks for the advice jemjabella.

Girlsyearapart DD1 has just turned 2 and DD2 is 11 weeks. Would love a third girl, am very of you.

I topped up at every feed from the start so breast was offered first. I agree with jemjabella that expressing late at night would help your supply if you are concerned.

I would say carry on for as long as you feel able to and your LO is happy. I decided to go exclusively FF about 5 months and dropped a BF every few days. I remember wondering whether doing 2 feeds a day (morning and evening) could carry on as I quite enjoyed bf but dd made decision for me and decided she didn't want boob anymore!!